How to Steal From a Mind Reader
by Witchit
Summary: Someone had been following him for a little while now, and he was curious. How was it going to pan out? Short bit of silliness set at some point after the events of The Lost Age.


_Disclaimer here: Okay yada yada, clearly I do not own the protagonists of Golden Sun, I merely came up with the thief and story idea. Ivan would be about 5 years older if I owned him. Grin_

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She'd been watching the mark for days now. A few more and she'd be ready enough to go for it. Grinning to herself, she grabbed an apple off of a passing cart, and settled into a waiting position.

Inevitably, a few minutes later, her intended target turned into the busy and cobbled street. The few people who saw him come nodded or shouted their greetings, and he returned them, continuing down the street towards the central arches of the grand library. When she was certain enough time had lapsed, she rolled off of the awning, wrapped herself in a hooded cloak, which enveloped her face in shadow, and set off down the street after him. She soon caught up behind him, and was almost upon him when...

...he turned, with a strange look on his face. Inwardly cursing herself, the thief ducked behind a pillar, at the entrance to a courtyard.

The young man surveyed the area with some anxiety. Had he been imagining things? He'd sensed something at the edge of his perception, but there seemed to be nothing out of place. He carried on scanning his surroundings for a few more moments with his violet eyes, before turning and walking into the great library.

The thief sighed in relief. That had almost been uncomfortable. She had to take greater precautions. Silently, she slipped into the library, trying to close the doors behind her as quietly as possible. She scanned the entrance hall for any signs of the mark, and, seeing none, slipped the hood down off of her head. Heading up to the gallery overlooking the main body of the library itself, she grabbed a book as if to read, whilst all the while scanning for her mark.

"I know you're up there, I hope you realise." The voice inside her head was gentle almost, mildly curious, but most definitely was not hers.

"Shit!" She swore mentally. How had he known?

"You're very good at this, I'll grant you. But I have other advantages that most people don't."

By now the thief was scanning frantically, trying to work out where her mark had gone, and where he was talking to her from. She moved towards the stairs, to check whether he was underneath the gallery.

"Getting colder." She stopped, and turned, eyes darting over every figure on the upper floor, trying to spot some sign of him. Where was he?!

"Okay!" She called, apparently to thin air. "You win hide-and-seek. Want to come out now?"

As if from nowhere, suddenly the young man stepped out of the shadows of a book case about a metre from where she stood. The thief, unused to the tables being turned, jumped visibly.

She stared.

"How did you...I mean...I didn't see...how did you get up the stairs without me noticing?!" She eventually finished.

"I already told you. I have certain...advantages that most people don't. That's just one of them." He spoke out loud now, and the thief noticed his voice now carried an amused tone. "Now," he continued, "why have you been following me for the last few days? Certainly not to do me any physical harm, I can sense that much."

Again, the thief stared.

"But how could you have known?!"

Then young man laughed, a not altogether unpleasant sound, as his entire body shook. When he calmed down, he looked directly at her, his eyes piercing deeply as if trying to work his way into her inner self.

"Stop that." She snapped, quickly regaining her composure. "You'll find out what I want...soon enough."

And with that, she turned and ran for the nearest window, and promptly jumped out of it, blushing furiously, into a passing haycart.

Sometimes, she reflected, life throws you a tiny bit of luck.

It was some time before she felt ready to try again. Weeks passed, as she waited, nearly going mad in the process with impatience. She'd blown her first opportunity. She wasn't going to screw it up again.

The night she'd chosen couldn't have been worse timed. Waiting near her intended victims abode for most of the day, posing as a beggar, she'd memorized the comings and goings of the household. That had all been well and good, and she'd been about to climb over the wall and into the house when the heavens suddenly opened, and a steady downpour began. This of course, meant that every member of the household had come rushing back in, to escape from the drenching. The thief however, had to stick it out. She wasn't going to wait around any more.

After two hours, when the worst of the rain had passed, and the house had fallen into a slumber, she crept up to the nearest window. She let her sodden cloak drop off of her shoulders, so that it wouldn't stick or catch anything in its present state, slowly opened the shutters to as small a gap as she could fit through, and climbed through. Once inside, she closed the shutters again, and crouched low to the ground, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room.

There was a figure lying alseep on the bed, and as she rose, she grinned to herself as she recognized it as that of her young mark. She was obviously in the right place then. She took in his sleeping form, noting that he wasn't entirely unnattractive. His sandy blonde hair, which she could just about make out due to a small sliver of outside light, had fallen across his face, and he looked almost..sweet.

Mentally, she chastised herself.

"Snap out of it! You have a job to do here!"

Coming around, she scanned the room again, searching for her prize, her eyes coming to rest to rest on a spherical object on a table. There was another grin, as she crept towards the table.

And then she felt something grip her shoulder.

"I really wouldn't suggest you take another step towards it. Its rather precious to me, you understand?"

She groaned. Did this guy have some kind of hidden alarm system?!

"What gave me away this time then?" She grumbled.

"Honestly? As a piece of advice, next time you set out to rob someone of their possessions, don't stop to consider their appearance. Your thoughts were...somewhat loud." He replied, and in the darkness, she could have sworn he was blushing.

"Awww, you mean you're going to spoil all of my fun? I wouldn't enjoy what I do half as much if I didn't get a few kicks here or there." She teased him, trying to regain her confident cover.

"You know, for someone as lovely looking as you are, you have a very poor attitude." It was her turn to blush now. "Besides which, its a very unfulfilling career path. I'm afraid you won't be taking what you seek."

She scowled, then suddenly, a smirk slunk over her features.

"I'm not leaving without stealing something. I'd never live it down."

And with that, she kissed him. He froze, momentarily stunned, before returning the kiss. It was very nice, sort of soft, she mused, as she felt a tingle in the back of her mind. And in the second that she broke away, she grabbed the ball and once more ran for a window, and threw herself out. She then scrambled to her feet and bolted for the wall.

He watched her retreating form as she got halfway across the courtyard before vanishing magically into shadow. Whether that was an effect of her new treasure, or simply because of her profession, he wasn't too sure. He'd let her think she'd bested him for now. Besides, he knew where to find her now. That was the thing about being a Jupiter Adept, Ivan thought to himself.

"You can get anything from a persons mind when their guard is down." And with that, he smiled, closed the shutters and returned to his bed. After all, it was going to be a busy day tomorrow.

**_fin._**

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Authors Notes: _Okay, so bit short and probably not to most peoples tastes. This is my first time submitting any kind of story to anything, so reviews and critiques would very much be welcomes, so I know what to work on. I left the thief to the imagination of the reader as much as I could, because lets face it, nobody wants to read about the mad adventures of Mary Sue, do they?_

**_Witchit._**


End file.
